Mrs. Miniver or The Best Years of Our Lives?
-
Clothes-Off — 17 years ago(January 16, 2009 07:55 PM)
Easy.
TBYoOL has definitely held up better over time. It has more sincerity and streaightforwardness, whereas MM went heavy on the propaganda, which MGM felt was necessary at the time to counteract people who were against the U.S. getting involved in WWII. (Lillian Gish held that opinion, but then she was known for her prejudice and anti-Semitism.)
Last year TCM aired a documentary about Wyler, and his friend playwright Lillian Hellman told him upfront she thought MM was his weakest effort as a filmmaker!
"Well, for once the rich white man is in control!"
C. M. Burns -
simplemines — 17 years ago(January 23, 2009 02:18 AM)
I don't think Lillian Hellman's opinion on World War 2 carries a whole lot of weight. She was an avid Stalin supporter; in fact, before the american involvement in WW2, she had served on a committee to keep the US OUT of the war.
Hellman changed her mind in a minute when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union and was no longer an ally of Stalin. -
thbryn — 16 years ago(October 17, 2009 09:17 PM)
I might not be giving BYOOL a fair shake as I've seen MM maybe 10/1, times viewed.
I look at MM as a call to war and BY' as a realization that post-war problems would exist for a generation and shouldn't be forgotten.
I'd say both were important films with BY' the less entertaining but more socially significant work. -
SpitfireIXB — 16 years ago(February 06, 2010 02:02 AM)
@ladylavende
I'm with you on this, The Best Years of Our Lives [current IMDb rating 8.2] is indeed a superior movie to Mrs. Miniver [current IMDb rating 7.7] - in every cinematic way. The ratings say it all.
This message has not yet been deleted by an IMDb administrator. -
bhoover247 — 16 years ago(February 26, 2010 11:15 AM)
They are both great movies, but my vote goes to The Best Years Of Our Lives. One reason in addition to it being the better drama, was that BYOOL dealt with the war from the perspective of Americans. Mrs. Miniver dealing with people in England being bombed had less chance for ambivalence among the characters.
-
raketex — 16 years ago(February 26, 2010 11:09 AM)
I have to say that I believe "The Best Years of Our Lives" has just so many unusual, and "just right," set pieces and characters in it that it strikes a special place in me. I can watch it over and over (in part or in whole) whenever it's on TCM just to admire the quality put into every aspect of it. In that respect, it is more like a view into real life, with all of its attendant ups and downs, that just happens to have been recorded as a movie.
On the other hand, "Mrs. Miniver" is more a melodramatic movie-movie. As good as it is, you never lose sight of the fact that it is a "story-movie."
On the plus side, "The Best Years" and "Mrs. Miniver" both feature two of what I consider the most attractive actresses of their time - Myrna Loy and Greer Garson. In fact, if you look closely, they even seem to have some of the same facial expressions with their characteristically wide-eyed look. (Their arching eyebrows and eyeshadow certainly accentuated that beautiful feature of theirs.)
And then as an added bonus, you also get that fresh-faced, yet beguiling, child-woman Teresa Wright in both movies! -
kathymac1443 — 15 years ago(August 19, 2010 10:42 PM)
Mrs Miniver by far for me. I'm a war baby and "The Best Years of Our Lives" doesn't do it for me. I'm not even sure why. It had great acting but just lacked something for me. On the other hand "Mrs. Miniver" was supurb and delightful. Maybe it was Greer and Walter.
-
ABetterDay — 15 years ago(November 14, 2010 03:48 PM)
While both films are excellent in their own way, I would give the nod to BYOOL. It develops a storyline following 3 completely different, flawed, typical American families. Miniver, by contrast, is very much a single storyline. BYOOL meshes the 3 storylines, sometimes purposely bruisingly, and results in something that is rare from Hollywood; a film about average (and even white trash) that is compelling and entertaining. Miniver was far more a typical vehicle of the time. Again, both are indeed excellent.
Remember When Movies Didn't Have To Be Politically Correct? -
IloveMuggy — 15 years ago(November 14, 2010 05:58 PM)
I agreewhile Mrs. Miniver is an excellent film, The Best Years of Our Lives is an even better one. Frederic March's performance (among many other great ones in the latter) is one for the ages. Unforgettable.
-
CindyH — 15 years ago(February 19, 2011 02:51 PM)
Isn't that kind of like comparing apples to oranges? I think the only two similarities here are family and an actress. One is pre/during war, the other post war. The styles are different as is the writing.
Anyway, I'm just not sure which I like better because of the differences. I liked Mrs. Miniver because it showed the horrors of living at home in England during the war. I liked The Best Years of our Lives because it showed how the war affected them emotionally afterward.